


Unmasking

by Kou (Rietto)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Ouma is the Fool and can wield multiple personas AU, Ouma is the traitor AU, Persona crossover, but with a twist, mixed between persona 4 and 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rietto/pseuds/Kou
Summary: Ouma betrayed the Investigation Group by suddenly announcing that he's the culprit behind all disappearance and murder.No one is buying it.
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 81
Collections: Quality Fics





	Unmasking

**Author's Note:**

> A short what-if Persona crossover I thought of after replaying Persona 5 in preparation to play Royal.  
> Hoping it can cure my block, so we'll see.

“Kokichi Ouma.”

_“Candidate found.”_

“Secret lair.”

_“Candidate found.”_

Everyone around him stared nervously. Shuichi felt bad to have to break the news that he had absolutely no idea where the self-proclaimed supreme leader could be.

He couldn’t be blamed, really. Ouma was so mysterious it’s kind of scary by itself. It’s as if he suddenly appeared and wreak havoc. Sure, he’s infamous as the scapegoat for just about everything in Shujin High School, from missing items to extinction of rhinoceros in South East Asia, but to be honest his whole existence was more like an urban legend.

Self-proclaimed Supreme Leader of shadow extermination group, self-proclaimed wielder of a hundred personas.

He came and go, messing with Shuichi’s group so often in their heart-changing vigilantism, but he gave out a lot of clues too. There were even times when he joined the excursion and battles. He’s as elusive as a wild cat, really.

The thing was that no one knew anything about him. Almost everyone everywhere in Tokyo seemed to know him, but no one could answer simple questions relating to his history prior to entering Shujin High.

“… yeah, sorry, I can only get this far. I got nothing on him. Any luck, Kiibo-kun?”

“I’m scanning the Metaverse, but so far nothing.”

“Have you tried hell? I mean, that imp gotta come from there, right?”

Harukawa repeated the word, apparently agreeing with Iruma. Shuichi was honestly a bit surprised that the app didn’t respond. Not that he’d know how to go to hell in the off chance his Palace really was in hell.

“Well, while we wait, maybe we should level up in Mementos. Atua knows we’d need it since-“

_“Candidate found. Beginning navigation.”_

Collective yelp and gasps as the scenery changed from Shibuya Station to creepy underground hell hole, and then there’s silence, followed by a loud sigh coming from Momota.

“Son of a bitch.”

* * *

The thing was, they had to walk towards the Mementos entrance, and then they realized that they had no idea exactly where Ouma’s Palace’s entrance could be.

“The deepest we got is like, fifty floors down. Please don’t tell me we have to scour fifty fucking Mementos floors for entrance to his stupid secret lair.”

Harukawa voiced in the entrance of the quite literal hell hole.

Nobody answered her.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Nobody appeared to be willing to stop her.

* * *

Let’s rewind.

Shujin High School had been plagued with missing people cases, with the victims usually ending up found as corpse days or weeks after their disappearance.

Well, turns out someone had been shoving people into Metaverse to let them be killed by their own psychotic other self aka Shadow. Long story short, some of the victims managed to gain Personas which help them survive the Shadows, and those people decided to band together to get to the bottom of the case.

Shuichi was not the leader of the group, let it be said. He would prefer to spend his days quietly while exploring his options, as he would rather not be the detective he was currently famous as. Sadly, Kaito Momota pulled him along and apparently it attracted the culprit’s attention because next thing he knew he was already in Metaverse face to face with his doppelganger complaining about how motive didn’t matter in the grander scheme of things.

Death to all sinners and all that.

Yeah.

If the group hadn’t saved him, he’d be dead, he reckoned.

(Just like his good friend Akamatsu)

Their group grew, and Ouma came and went.

He messed with them, hindered them, helped them, and then…

“Yeah, okay, so! Who among you guys believe his crap? ‘Coz I surely don’t! That little abortion is the shittiest little shit ever to grace this shitty world and he’s even shitty in the one thing he’s proud of. What a dumb ass!”

No one raised their hands. Well, Harukawa seemed like she would, but a glance from Momota seemed to have stopped her.

“I MEAN! Maybe I’d believe him if I hadn’t spent the last year putting up with his shit. Him being a mastermind is obviously a lie.”

Shuichi had to agree.

If he hadn’t been following after him, maybe he’d believe that.

Believed that Ouma was a traitor, that in truth he’s the culprit behind every murder.

But that can’t be true. Ouma might be mean-spirited, but Shuichi didn’t think he had it in him to kill. And, despite him being a liar, he could be very obvious at times. That’s one of his uniqueness, Shuichi thought. Ouma never hid who he was. Among them, he’s the only one not wearing a mask.

Only when he proclaimed that, in the palace which trapped Iruma that a mask appeared on his face.

That was like a persona awakening, in Shuichi’s opinion. He remembered how his eyes flashed bright eerie yellow, how maniacal he sounded. How despite his laughter he seemed to be in tremendous pain as blue flame engulfed him.

Shuichi tore his mask to form a contract with Serpent.

He tore his mask every time he’s using their power.

Meanwhile, Ouma…

He’d put it on instead. A mask appeared on his hand and he put it on his face himself. But just at that time. Shuichi had seen him summoning Shepherd and Cassandra, and he never did it then.

He could still see the bloody tears and smell the burning flesh.

“… we have to save him. I mean, you all remember our awakening. Tearing our masks is what stabilizes our personas, which enabled us to use their power. Proof that we’d stop bottling them. He… he _embraced_ the mask.”

“ _Shit_.”

“For all we know, he could be becoming the very shadow-y monster in Mementos.”

“So, he’s on his merry way from annoying fake-crazy into really _really_ crazy. Well, fuck.”

“But, it’s true that him taking the blame is the only thing which stops the real mastermind for now.”

They decided to hurry on up to catch the mastermind.

* * *

Well, they got Shirogane, but turns out she just copying someone.

And then it’s unanimous.

They would save Ouma first before going after _her,_ lest he became real crazy and begin to kidnap people too for funzies. It wouldn’t be out of character if he did.

* * *

If only it could be that easy.

Ouma’s lair turned out to be in Sheriruth, and they only accidentally found the entrance because Yumeno noticed that one floor in the station sounded different when stepped. As expected from the magician, she could notice a trap door when she literally stumbled into one.

Thank Atua, because they had to venture deeper than ever and he didn’t think anyone will take it kindly if it turns out his entrance was on the first floors.

They followed the creepy tunnel to a wide space with Ouma sitting on the throne, reading comic and sipping boba tea. Shuichi had no idea where he got it from, for all he knew Ouma hadn’t been to the surface, but he also didn’t know where the trains there were heading in Mementos. He wondered if there’s Shadow delivery service or something. Harukawa eyed the guns and spy gear with disdainful eyes.

By the way, Ouma was as always. He was wearing his usual Metaverse getup, with white straitjackets like uniform, military cap, and cape which was probably just a curtain he found in the dumpster somewhere. The difference was the mask in his face, with visible burnt marks surrounding the edges.

“Ouma-kun.”

Ouma turned to them and literally beamed. Chabashira pulled Yumeno aside, apparently taking even that as a sign of aggression.

“’Sup, guys! Didn’t expect you of all people to reach here. I waited for like, what? Three weeks? I was getting bored.”

Looking at piles of documents and literal junk surrounding his throne, Shuichi thought it might not be a lie.

“Cut your crap, little shit! We know your deal! We found out who the real mastermind is!”

“Yeah, I told you. It’s me!”

“No, we really did find it. It’s a psycho model who developed a cult even crazier than Angie’s. Not that Angie is crazy… Uhm, sorry, Yumeno.”

“Nyeh, I’m telling her that…“

Shuichi hoped she’d still give them pre-battle buffs but decided to put that worry aside for now. He took hesitant steps forward.

“Ouma-kun… please. Can you take your mask off?”

“Missing my handsome face that badly?”

The smile was playful and teasing, the usual Ouma. He breathed a sigh of relief. He’d hoped he was wrong with his hypothesis. Shuichi never realized how happy he was to be wrong until then.

“Yes.”

The smile dropped, while the others turned to him and gaped. Shuichi tried to ignore the comment from Harukawa regarding his terrible taste in human beings in general.

“Wow. That’s cheesy, Saihara-chan.”

“What is?”

“But, you’re right. I’ve missed you too…”

There’s a gagging sound that probably came from Iruma.

“So then!”

“But, yeah, no, I’m not coming back! You’re welcome to stay though, Saihara-chan. Be my minion and help me kidnap more people into Metaverse! It’ll be fun!”

Ouma’s eyes flashed bright eerie yellow, and a blue-skinned man with long blonde hair flickered into existence behind him. He grinned menacingly behind bat-like wings, and it brought a chill down Shuichi’s spine.

A Persona Shuichi had only seen once before when Ouma suddenly announced that he’s the mastermind.

Loki.

“I… I can’t, Ouma-kun.”

“Oh. That’s too bad. Okay, buh-bye now! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m busy plotting my next victim. I’m thinking someone important this time. Maybe a maid, to help me clean this place up.”

Well he did seem like he’d need one.

“He’s not serious, right?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Harukawa ripped her mask off her face and Red appeared behind her, knives on both hands. She and her persona leaped to the throne. Ouma just grinned wider, and Loki parried Red’s attack as Harukawa’s knives met resistance about five inches away from Ouma’s face.

“Ice them, Loki!”

Yumeno yelped, screamed, “TINK!”, and the fairy flew around spreading her magic just in time before the ice spell hit them all. The spell rebounded, but it either got repelled harmlessly off Ouma too or he had drain ice capability. A lot of swearing and curses were said as the battle started.

Shuichi made a mental note to talk to Harukawa about this later.

Even if she did vow to kill Ouma.

* * *

Curb stomping a berserk Shadow (or Persona in this case) was one thing, fighting someone who could switch Persona mid-battle was another. And Ouma had more than one, unlike the rest of them. At least, three that they knew of. He claimed that Loki was his one hundred and first, but Shuichi thought that’s a bluff.

No one knew how he got them.

They knew it’d be tough, but Shuichi had to admit he didn’t think it’d be _that_ tough.

Iruma counted five Personas. A lot of surprised yelp and curses from the sudden switch in resistance status, but Shuichi was just glad that Ouma didn’t really have a hundred at his disposal. Maybe he did have a hundred. No one could be sure.

Still, with six versus one, they could win in the end.

“Uuugh… Yumeno-san, diarama please?”

“I lost my MP from spamming makarakarn and amrita drop… I can’t.”

Just by existing apparently Loki could induce rage. Harukawa was especially easy to influence.

“Hey, shit brat… Hehehe, we won! Now, be quiet and just get back to reality with us.”

Ouma laughed his signature laugh mirthlessly.

“What the hell is wrong with you guys…? I already admitted that I’m the mastermind, right? No more disappeared right? Why are you so stubborn…? Do you like the game that badly?”

Momota smacked him in the head.

Whether it managed to get some sense into him was yet to be seen.

Also, apparently, when no one was buying into one’s mask, it could fall out on his own. Who knew.

**Author's Note:**

> Mentioned Personas :  
> Ouma's :  
> \- Loki (Norse trickster god)  
> \- Shepherd (The Boy Who Cried Wolf)  
> \- Cassandra (the cursed clairvoyant)  
> \- Imagined the other two to be Oberon and Cheshire, but didn't appear
> 
> Saihara's :  
> \- Serpent (from the biblical depiction of demon who tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, maybe. I'm not Christian but I heard it's a snake?)
> 
> Yumeno's :  
> \- Tink (Peter Pan's Tinkerbell)
> 
> Harukawa's :  
> \- Red (Little Red Riding Hood)


End file.
